Trial begins for Glendale Heights man accused in father's death

Clifford WardSpecial to the Tribune

A Glendale Heights man offered a group of young people $50 to smother his father before doing the job himself, DuPage County prosecutors said Tuesday during opening statements on the man’s trial for first-degree murder

George M. Panos, 47, is accused of killing George Panos Sr., 78, by covering his face with a pillow until he suffocated on Jan. 25, 2009, at their Paul Avenue home.

Assistant State’s Attorney Bernie Murray told jurors they would see incriminating videotape statements Panos made in police custody. But defense lawyers argued that police “put their blinders on” after being tipped that Panos had killed his father.

“There’s not a single piece of evidence to show that George Panos Sr. was suffocated,” Assistant Public Defender Kristen Nevdal said. “George Panos Sr. died of natural causes, and George Panos Jr. is innocent.”

Panos Sr., who weighed 98 pounds when he died, suffered from several ailments and required a breathing apparatus and a walker to get around.

The suffocation tip came from a friend of the grandson of the elder Panos. Andrew Schiffleger testified that he was living at the Panos house in January 2009, and that on the night the elderly man died, Panos Jr. approached Schiffleger and his friends, who had met him at the house before heading out to a birthday celebration.

“He offered us $50 to put a pillow on the old man’s face,” Schiffleger said.

But under cross examination, he said he and friends did not contact police because they did not think Panos, whom Schiffleger said was drinking heavily, was serious. But Schiffleger, who was 19 at the time, later told the story to police after Panos reported his father’s death.

A day later, Schiffleger wore a recording device in a meeting with Panos at the police station. On the recording, which was played for the jury, Panos could be heard telling Schiffleger that he wrestled with the decision to end his father’s life and that his father wanted to die.

“This is the last thing I could do for him,” Panos said.

Defense attorneys attacked Schiffleger’s credibility, focusing on a history including misdemeanor arrests for theft and obstructing justice.

Dr. James Filkins, the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Panos Sr., said there were no signs of suffocation, though he said they might not be apparent given the elderly man’s condition. Had he not been informed that Panos had made statements regarding suffocation, Filkins said he would have attributed the death to a combination of heart trouble and emphysema.